From the site: “Addicting Info started as a resource to discredit all the lies and propaganda that the right-wing spreads.”

This is the second article you’ve linked to from this site about this Pope that takes a quote out of context and runs with it in a totally different direction in order to make it appear the Pope is saying what you want to hear. The article admits, “While Pope Francis did not specifically mention Christian right-wing ideology during the Mass, his past remarks suggest he was talking about that ideology most of all.” So a person who runs a site dedicated to discrediting all the lies and propaganda the right wing supposedly spreads, views the Pope’s remarks as being against this writer’s arch enemy. Imagine that. The irony is this writer doesn’t know how to differentiate between Christian religious conservatism and the American political right. He just mushes them together in one big group and supposes the Pope does the same.

If this kind of article makes you feel good about your views and gives you reasons to hate your perceived enemy even more, then knock yourself out. But the article is simply a fabrication, not truth.

From the site: “Addicting Info started as a resource to discredit all the lies and propaganda that the right-wing spreads.”

This is the second article you’ve linked to from this site about this Pope that takes a quote out of context and runs with it in a totally different direction in order to make it appear the Pope is saying what you want to hear. The article admits, “While Pope Francis did not specifically mention Christian right-wing ideology during the Mass, his past remarks suggest he was talking about that ideology most of all.” So a person who runs a site dedicated to discrediting all the lies and propaganda the right wing supposedly spreads, views the Pope’s remarks as being against this writer’s arch enemy. Imagine that. The irony is this writer doesn’t know how to differentiate between Christian religious conservatism and the American political right. He just mushes them together in one big group and supposes the Pope does the same.

If this kind of article makes you feel good about your views and gives you reasons to hate your perceived enemy even more, then knock yourself out. But the article is simply a fabrication, not truth.

I think maybe you miss the point. If we were to draw a Venn diagram, one big circle would be the American Political Right. The other circle would be a tiny tiny bit smaller and completely contained by the first. OR possibly the 2nd would be separate from the first but overlapping about 99%. Same thing. For all practical purposes the Pope’s got it right.

From the site: “Addicting Info started as a resource to discredit all the lies and propaganda that the right-wing spreads.”

This is the second article you’ve linked to from this site about this Pope that takes a quote out of context and runs with it in a totally different direction in order to make it appear the Pope is saying what you want to hear. The article admits, “While Pope Francis did not specifically mention Christian right-wing ideology during the Mass, his past remarks suggest he was talking about that ideology most of all.” So a person who runs a site dedicated to discrediting all the lies and propaganda the right wing supposedly spreads, views the Pope’s remarks as being against this writer’s arch enemy. Imagine that. The irony is this writer doesn’t know how to differentiate between Christian religious conservatism and the American political right. He just mushes them together in one big group and supposes the Pope does the same.

If this kind of article makes you feel good about your views and gives you reasons to hate your perceived enemy even more, then knock yourself out. But the article is simply a fabrication, not truth.

I think maybe you miss the point. If we were to draw a Venn diagram, one big circle would be the American Political Right. The other circle would be a tiny tiny bit smaller and completely contained by the first. OR possibly the 2nd would be separate from the first but overlapping about 99%. Same thing. For all practical purposes the Pope’s got it right.

The Pope doesn’t have it wrong on this issue. Greed destroys lives. Here’s what the Pope said, “That’s what does harm: greed in my relationship with money. Having more, having more, having more… It leads you to idolatry, it destroys your relationship with others. It’s not money, but the attitude, what we call greed. Then too this greed makes you sick, because it makes you think of everything in terms of money. It destroys you, it makes you sick. And in the end – this is the most important thing – greed is an instrument of idolatry because it goes along a way contrary to what God has done for us. Saint Paul tells us that Jesus Christ, who was rich, made Himself poor to enrich us. That is the path of God: humility, to lower oneself in order to serve. Greed, on the other hand, takes us on a contrary path: You, who are a poor human, make yourself God for vanity’s sake. It is idolatry!”

The Pope is preaching against greed in any person’s life. What the writer of the article at AddictingInfo did was to accuse his political enemies of being greedy, then claim that the Pope was speaking specifically against the American political right and Christian Conservatives, judging and condemning them. The Pope did no such thing. The writer at AddictingInfo did. The writer at AddictingInfo did what the Pope knows better than to do—judge others.

Jesus also taught: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

The Pope judged a behavior and encouraged each one of us to take a look into our own lives. The writer at AddictingInfo judged people and condemned others while viewing himself as blameless. He applauded the Pope for judging and condemning the writer’s political enemies, but the Pope is not guilty of that. Those judging and condemning others for being greedy are the ones who “make themselves God for vanity’s sake.” They should take the plank out of their own eye.

I think we all agree that attachment to wealth is a problem. There are very few people who have the disease of needing things. Unfortunately, we have a system that rewards those people. If you ignore what most of us think of as our conscious, then you can do all sorts of things that harm a lot of people and make you wealthy. But almost no one is unaware of those morals about not harming others, so even those who ignore them on a daily basis must justify their actions and cover their tracks. Religion and corporations are well designed to help with that.

These leaves a lot of other people very torn between doing what they think is right and pursuing that good life that the wealthy enjoy. The Pope is doing what a Pope should do; point out the behaviors that lead to societal problems. The author of article is doing what journalism should do; apply those lessons to real people.

That leaves us with the question of how many right wing conservatives who practice greed claim their ideology is based on Christianity. Most everybody but LilySmith seem to think that is an easy one, simply because of what we see coming from people like Pat Robertson, Mitt Romney and Bill O’Reilly. I make no statements here about their theological accuracy, only what they themselves claim, that capitalist ideas come from Jesus. Looking broader, show me one successful Republican candidate who is not Christian and is not well off and became well off through organic farming or saving the whales?

What criteria would you accept to show that right-wing conservative politics is tightly bound to fundamentalist Christianity?

That leaves us with the question of how many right wing conservatives who practice greed claim their ideology is based on Christianity. Most everybody but LilySmith seem to think that is an easy one, simply because of what we see coming from people like Pat Robertson, Mitt Romney and Bill O’Reilly. I make no statements here about their theological accuracy, only what they themselves claim, that capitalist ideas come from Jesus. Looking broader, show me one successful Republican candidate who is not Christian and is not well off and became well off through organic farming or saving the whales?

What criteria would you accept to show that right-wing conservative politics is tightly bound to fundamentalist Christianity?

If that’s your opinion I would say it’s simplistic and uninformed. But to drag the Pope into such an accusation is deceitful and disgusting.

Mitt Romney—Mormon, not fundamentalist

Bill O’Reilly—Catholic, not fundamentalist

Paul Ryan—Catholic, not fundamentalist

Joseph Biden—Catholic

Harry Reid—Mormon

Nancy Pelosi—Catholic

Antonin Scalia—Catholic

John Roberts—Catholic

Newt Gingrich—Catholic

I know this may come as a tremendous shock for you, but religion and politics are two very different things. When you say that right wing politics and fundamentalist Christianity are tightly bound, it shows your inability to understand complex issues.